Silverponies

by Scribblestick

Him

The world was silent. It always had been. It always would be. This was the second lesson Applejack learned.

The path was hard under her hooves, but she didn't mind. It was familiar to her, well-worn with hoofprints traveling to and from the falls. She took a deep breath as she crested a hill and surveyed the pool from a distance. Water cascaded down the side of the mountain, stirring up foam at the bottom. As she drew near, she felt the almost invisible mist stroking her face and forelegs. She waded into the pool and stood beneath the falls. The water didn't try to push her down, contrary to her expectation when she'd first made this trek. After a minute, she stepped out of the falls and began walking back the way she had come. The buckets strapped to either side of her body, now filled with water, felt no different than before.

The world was weightless. It always had been. It always would be. This was the third lesson Applejack learned.

Applejack reached the top of the hill and looked down. Before her lay a long, straight path across the flat, dry land. In the distance, she could see a bulge sticking out of the earth. That was her destination.

A Guardian drifted near as she stood there, and her body was filled with a sense of unease. The Guardian was displeased, but it merely floated on, its long limbs dangling behind it like tentacles. Applejack picked up her pace a little to make up for lost time.

One does not displease the Guardians. This was the fourth lesson Applejack learned.

She passed a Guardian every five minutes or so as she walked toward the mound. Most only acknowledged her presence, but a few followed her for a moment. They never stayed for long. They liked to float alone. Sometimes, Applejack wished she could be a Guardian.

Time passed. She was halfway there. There were fewer Guardians here. They stayed closer to the waterfall, but they rarely crossed the hill. Applejack didn't know why. It was none of her business. She only brought him water. When he ran out, she brought him more.

It was an honor to bring him water. This was the fifth lesson Applejack learned.

She passed a Guardian. Strange this far from the falls. It didn't float. It lay on the ground. Its mouth was open. Perhaps it was sleeping. Applejack liked sleeping. Sometimes, he let her sleep. Sometimes, she had dreams.

She never shared her dreams, though. She must never share her dreams. This was the sixth lesson Applejack learned.

At the mound. Wait by gate until he calls. Enter gate. Grass soft under hooves. Walk in door. Buckets removed. Buckets replaced. Get more water. Exit door. Exit gate. Walk toward mountain.

Do not look back. This was the seventh and last lesson Applejack learned. It was the only she had taught herself. She looked back once. She saw him drink the water. For a moment, he changed. She could not explain how until she stood once again under the falls, until her mind felt less clouded, and she could remember the word.

Green. For a moment, his fur had turned green.

This was impossible. Green did not exist. Green only existed in her dreams, the ones he told her never to speak of. The world was without color. It always had been. It always would be.

This was the first and most important lesson Applejack learned.

---

She tried to hide at the waterfall once.

Her legs were harder to move that day. She couldn't explain why. Walking up the hill was especially difficult, but it made walking down to the pool feel a little better. To be honest, the mist from the waterfall was the only thing that kept her going some days.

As she stood in the waterfall, waiting for the buckets to fill, the thought occurred to her. Why did he make her fetch the water? He had strong legs and hooves. Why was it her task to walk across the land, while he stayed in the mound all day?

At first, she hadn't known what to do with these thoughts. She didn't have very many, and it was the first time to her recollection she'd ever thought something rebellious. It made her feel excited and scared at once. As she stood there, breathing in the mist from the falls, the thoughts began to take root in her mind and blossom into ideas. Why shouldn't she just stay here? Surely, eventually, he would come to see what had happened, proving that he could make the journey, and then she could tell him to stop being so lazy and fetch his own water.

The buckets began to overflow, drenching her fur in cool water, but she refused to move her hooves. She liked it here. She liked the feel of cool, misty air in her lungs and on her skin, a sense of peace settling in. The longer she stood there, the more the idea felt right to her, and the more she began to dread the though of leaving, and not just because he would be cross. There was something else, stuck just out of reach on the tip of her consciousness, and with every breath she took, she felt a little closer to reaching it.

That was when the Guardians found her. It was the only time she saw them cross the hill, and she hoped it would be the last.

They came floating as always, their limbs trailing behind them, but they didn't feel as ambivalent about her existence as usual. There were five of them, and they hovered around her, never touching the water. Leave this place, they told her. You have been here too long. You are not welcome. You must leave.

She tried to tell them no, despite a sudden, fearful pressure on her chest. She tried to tell them she was waiting for him to come to her, so he could fetch his own water.

You must bring him water, they said. You cannot stay here. You must leave.

The more she resisted, the more hostile they became, and the harder it was for her to breathe. Their limbs began to compress into legs, and gaping mouths began to open. They began to hiss at her, which was impossible. The world is silent, they told her. It always has been. It always will be.

But it isn't, she tried to explain. They were hissing at her.

The world is silent. The world is without color. One does not displease the Guardians.

Slowly, begrudgingly, she stepped out of the waterfall, then out of the pool. The Guardians followed her, always circling. She walked over the hill and began the long trek back to the mound. The Guardians stayed with her, their hissing growing quieter the farther she walked. After a quarter journey, their mouths were shut. Their limbs trailed behind them. After a half journey, there were three. Then two. Then one. She stood outside the gate. The Guardian entered the door. Then he called for her.

She entered the gate. The grass was soft under hooves. She entered the door. The buckets were removed, as always. She waited for the buckets to return. They didn't.

That was odd.

No more water today, he said. Stay in this room, he said. Do not leave, he said.

She didn't know what to do. This had never happened. She lay on the floor slowly. Maybe this was a trick. She closed her eyes. She waited. He said nothing else.

That was the first time she dreamed of colors.

---

The Guardians were watching her. This unnerving thought occurred to Applejack as she stood beneath the falls.

Of course, they weren't really watching her, not in the usual sense. But now that she had a moment to think, she realized she had seen more of them on this trip than usual, at least as far as she could recall. Their presence roused a nagging dread in her heart and mind. She shouldn't have hesitated at the top of the hill before. Now they thought she was going to try and stay at the falls again. She didn't blame them. That was only five rests ago. She got to rest every five trips. This was the fourth trip since her last rest, making twenty-nine in total.

She couldn't have said how many trips she made before her first rest. Counting was a relatively new concept for her. She didn't care much for it, but it was all she had.

As she crested the hill, she saw several Guardians hovering nearby, watching, no doubt, to see if she would leave. She tried to pay them no mind as she walked past, but their presence still made her feel tense.

Wait. They were tense as well. That was strange.

She felt the Guardians stir as the thought crossed her mind. We are not tense. Do not worry. You must deliver the water. Yes, she must, she told them, and continued walking. Only when she could no longer feel their presence did she begin to think again.

The Guardians were not tense, she decided. Scared? Nervous? That wasn't right. It was deeper. Applejack wracked her brain for half a journey before she gave up. She couldn't think of the word.

Three-quarters of the journey were done. The Guardian still lay there. Was this what worried the others? Applejack stopped. She looked at the sleeping Guardian. She had never seen one lie still before. Curious.

Farther, she saw another one. Its mouth was open, but it was different. It was hurt. Black surrounded the gray. She touched it. It did not move. Her hoof was black as well.

Strange.

She raised her hoof to her nose and sniffed. It was not a pleasant smell. She shook her head and tried to forget. The smell stayed in her nose. Her eyes began to water. This was not good. Would he be angry?

She set the buckets down. She had to wash her hoof. There would be less water. He would be angry. But he would not know she touched the hurt Guardian. She put her hoof in the bucket. The water turned black. Her hoof was clean. She dumped the water. She put the buckets on. She continued to walk.

At the mound. Wait by gate until he calls. Enter gate. Grass soft under hooves. Walk in door. Buckets removed.

Nothing.

He was angry.

Why is the bucket empty? Fell off. How did it fall off? Don't know. Why is your hoof still wet? Don't know. Did you drink my water? No.

Do not leave. I will be back.

Never in mound alone before. Strange. Look around. Nice smells. Many soft things.

Large hole. Made from stones. Full of water. Look around. No one here. Drink?

The world exploded the moment the water passed her lips.

---

For the first time, she remembered waking up.

Not from one of her dreams. That happened whenever he decided it should. This was a time before him. Before the buckets. But not before the falls. That was where she woke up to this world of gray. That was the only time the falls had ever weighed on her.

That was the only time she had looked on the Guardians as nothing more than monsters.

They were there when she awoke, half-drowned beneath the weight of water crashing down around her. Only it wasn't crashing down. It was silent, and so were the monsters, hovering around her like vultures circling a dying animal.

Maybe she was dying. Or maybe she was already dead. Either way, she felt justified in being scared.

Stay back, she told them, only the words didn't come out. The monsters must have understood her, because they recoiled a bit before lashing back. You are in our land, they said. You are not us. You must become us.

Applejack had no intention of becoming a monster, but there were five of them and only one of her. She knew they were fast. She wasn't sure how she knew that, only that the fear she now felt was familiar. She could see nothing but sky beyond the small hill that surrounded this pool. Behind her, a mountain rose, steep and foreboding. There was no way she could climb that without getting caught.

The only choice was to fight back. She hoped she would be strong enough, though somehow, she doubted it. She had seen these monsters before, though where she could not say.

The monsters loomed closer, their mouths hanging open, black ooze spilling out. For an instant, she saw not a gray expanse of nothing, but a beautiful crystal room lined with thrones. In that instant, before they dove, before she kicked, and before she fell unconscious, she remembered what they were, and the name she knew them by.

Silverponies.

---

Applejack stumbled back from the cistern, shaking her head vigorously. Her breathing was rapid, and she had to remind herself several times she was alone before her panic subsided. Water dripped from her face and mane, but she barely noticed as she sucked in deep breaths. The Silverponies attacked her at the falls, she knew that much. Then she woke up here, with him looking over her. What was his name? It occurred to her he'd never told her. All he said was to journey to the mountain and fill the buckets with water. That was all she had been doing for...

The panic began to rise again. Celestia, how long had it been?

The sound of her own breathing filled her ears as she stumbled around the mound. Her senses were working overtime, as though to make up for their long absence. The pleasant smells she'd detected before were gone, replaced with the dull scent of earth and water and...

Food.

Applejack's stomach growled. She followed her nose to a cupboard, where a large supply of oats was stuffed. Had she eaten at all since arriving in this strange place? She opened the bag and dug in, not caring that the oats tasted old. She was starving, and she had no idea where else she would find food, especially with the Silverponies wandering around outside.

The Silverponies. She was surrounded. The thought was enough to bring her bout of gluttony to an abrupt halt. They had ignored her all this time. Why? Why was this place different from home? Where was home? For that matter, where was here? Her breathing quickened as question after question piled up and threatened to crush her under their weight.

She walked slowly, quietly, toward the door and peeked out the small hole in its center. All she could see outside was the vast, flat expanse of land she had been traversing for, until moments ago, as long as she could remember. The mountain in the distance looked strangely small, standing alone in a sea of nothing.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Applejack stumbled back. He walked in and looked at her. For a moment, they stood still, regarding each other as though for the first time. Then, he said, "You're awake."

Applejack blinked. "Pardon?"

"You're awake," he repeated. One corner of his mouth tugged into a small smile.

"'Course Ah'm awake," Applejack replied. "You've only been gone a few minutes."

His smile widened into a grin. "My dear, it has been a very long while since you were truly awake."

Applejack couldn't help but take a few steps back. "What do you mean?"

"Look at your cutie mark," he answered. "It was as gray as the rest of this world when I first found you."

Applejack looked. Though her coat and mane were colorless, three spots of red stood out on her flank. "T-That's not possible," she said. "There ain't no color here."

"Exactly," he answered, shutting the door behind him. "There never has been. There never will be. Not as long as I'm here."

Comments

[Csquared08]

...What in the world?

This is mad creepy.

[Scribblestick]

5315096 Excellent. (insert appropriate emoticon)

[theportalmasters]

Hmmfgh.good.altogh are the silver pounds no shaped like gasts?